To move to a position of cultural ascendency, there is a requirement for a substantial independent proactive substance (not just a philosophy, but a philosophy that empowers social convention, etc). Given that the only atheists who done that of recent times are also celebrated as the greatest thugs of modern history, and given that atheists are terrified as hell of even asserting their philosophy, the path forward is not clear.

To move to a position of cultural ascendency, there is a requirement for a substantial independent proactive substance (not just a philosophy, but a philosophy that empowers social convention, etc). Given that the only atheists who done that of recent times are also celebrated as the greatest thugs of modern history, and given that atheists are terrified as hell of even asserting their philosophy, the path forward is not clear.

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It's quite clear. Theism will continue to decline as individualism and individual rights increase, and as conservative social traditions falter. There will be no need to "assert an atheist philosophy" any more than there is a need for non-pilots to assert a non-aviation philosophy, or for car drivers to assert a horse-less philosophy. They just drive their cars.

Religions are in decline, not necessarily theistic belief.
Confusing the two is common, in Western societies.
(It's common to underestimate the prevalence of atheists among the ostensibly theistic religious, in the first place - 4-12% of Catholic priests, for example).

Organized religion has not adjusted to technological and scientific change, or incorporated the bulk of recently acquired knowledge. It no longer fulfills its function, does its job, in maintaining good relations between complex physical reality and human society - even in the basics: even modern Tragedies of the Commons go unrecognized, go unopposed and unmoderated let alone prevented if possible, by modern religions.
Antibiotic resistance, for example, has not been addressed by any modern religion - it is a moral and ethical failure, involving self-sacrifice according to wisdom, of a kind central to organized religion in its traditional role.

The percentage of people who explicitly self-identify as atheists in the United States might be 3 or 4%, but those who describe themselves as "non-believers" is more likely to be around the 20-25% mark. In the United States, "atheist" is still seen as a very negative label by the religious majority, so it can be hard to "come out".

When polled in 2016 as to whether Americans would vote for an otherwise-well-qualified presidential candidate nominated by their preferred political party who also happened to be (atheism, Muslim, a woman, etc.), atheists came second-bottom of the list, just above socialists. Mind you, 58% of people still said they would vote for an atheist. For comparison, Muslims had a 60% approval rating, gay candidates 71% and women 92%. Which, looking at it another way, means that 8% of Americans would never vote for a woman, even if appropriately qualified and nominated by their party, which is a pretty sad indictment on that portion of the population.

On the upside, Americans are becoming more reasonable as the years tick by.

In any event I can understand why atheists may choose to keep it to themselves.

I expect that in a few places you would be discriminated against.

It would be wonderful if the world could get by without religion.

I would not worry if there was a God but living a lie is so very wrong and it would be wonderful if God could appear and lay out his plan...but he would if he was real.

Hopefully The Infinite Eternalists of the Modern Era will provide all the spirituality needed for a sensible world.

An eternal universe really makes sense...a spoongy universe that cycles away for no other reason than letting probability run its course.

It would actually make God more believable as he did not have to create anything which a God who is not around much could do...or not do...

Alex

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Then you will have to ease up on your ambitions for world domination. Until you come up with some tangible social investment for civilization, all you are doing in the name of atheism is providing feedback for theism to improve its game.

Then you will have to ease up on your ambitions for world domination. Until you come up with some tangible social investment for civilization, all you are doing in the name of atheism is providing feedback for theism to improve its game.

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Extremely few, IF any, are doing anything in the name of atheism. No 1 here is expressing ambitions for world domination. It is theists who seek to dominate. The vast majority of religion is a plague on humanity & will probably die out mostly on its own. Tho education is helping along with atheists standing up for themselves as they could not do for so long.
More & more people are seeing the fake wizard behind the curtain. As time goes on, religion fills people's needs less, seems to explain less & soothes fears much less. Religion is doomed by progress. Probably the main thing which could keep religion going strong is a major collapse of civilization & technology.

That won't be the the theism of the overt Abrahamic theists who post on science forums.

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Wish you the best of luck encountering one. I guess if you constantly keep repeating the same rhetoric to anyone and everyone, the odds are you will eventually strike gold sooner or later. A broken clock tells the correct time twice a day, doesn't it?